BRUNDIBAR

Dir. Douglas Wolfsperger (85min, Germany, 2014)
German with English Subtitles
Documentary
Mid-Atlantic Premiere

Holocaust? Again? That’s the reaction of the youth theater company at the Berliner Schaubühne to their newest project: Brundibar, the children’s opera, originally performed at Theresienstadt. This is not a theoretical school lesson, and they are thrown directly into the maelstrom of history when their class travels to Terezin to learn about the terrors of the Third Reich.

The group is accompanied by the charismatic dame Greta Klingsberg, one of the few survivors of the original cast of Brundibar. She takes the kids on a trip back in time and, slowly, they begin questioning their lazy attitude towards German history.

Co-presented by Opera On Tap Dc Metro, The Documentary Center at GWU, All Generations, Vendetta Bocce Bar & Tavern, and 3GDC.

Douglas Wolfsperger was born in 1957 in Zurich/Switzerland as a German citizen and grew up at the Lake Constance. After freelance work at SWF in Baden-Baden and WDR in Cologne, he now works as a writer and director. His previous films include: As Long As We Live!, Riders of the Sacred Blood, Did You Ever Fall in Love with Me?, Long Journey Into the Light, The Discarded Father, and Double Life.